In this essay I am going to study two outfits created by designers of haute couture fashion. Christian Dior was designing in the post war years and the two pieces from his collection that I have chosen are from the late 1940’s/50’s. The other designer is John Galliano who joined the House of Dior much later. The two Galliano designs I am looking at, are from the late 80’s and 90’s. Within this essay I am going to consider what has influenced the designers and their works, their results and how succesful they are.
Christian Dior was born in Normandy in 1905 to a wealthy family. When he was ten his family moved to Paris, where from 1920 – 1925 he studied political science at Ecole des Sciences Politiques. However, all Dior wanted to do was work in the arts. In 1928 his father gave him the money to open an art gallery on the condition that the family name did not appear above the door. Unfortunately, following deaths in the family, Dior’s gallery closed and he scraped a living selling fashion sketches to haute couture houses. When World War II began in 1939 Dior served as an officer for a year. He returned to Paris in 1941 and began playing a more prominent role in the design industry by dressing the wives of the Nazi officers and French collaborators. After the war, Dior was invited by Marcel Boussac to revive a struggling clothing company which he owned. Dior felt that at this period everyone was ready for a new style contrasting the drab war years and, with Marcel Boussac’s financial backing, he launched the couture house of Dior, which was decorated in his favourite colours of white and grey. In 1947 Christian Dior presented a collection of luxurious clothes with sloping shoulders, thin waists and full flowing skirts - Dior ...
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...ano’s design from his 1998-1999 autumn/winter collection. I love the overall daring, dramatic statement of this outfit; the strong bold colours and flowing opulent lines. A wearer would immediately very feel confident and vibrant.
Bibliography,
Books; ‘Galliano’ by Colin McDowell - ISBN; 0-75380-497-2, ‘Classics of fashion’ by Harriet Worsley - ISBN; 1-84044–100–3 and ‘The Fashion Book by Phaidon’ – ISBN; 0–7148–4118-8
Websites; www.vam.ac.uk, www.vintageconnection.net, artarttattler.com/designcouture, www.guardian.co.uk/fashion, designmuseum.org.
Works Cited
‘Galliano’ by Colin McDowell - ISBN; 0-75380-497-2, ‘Classics of fashion’ by Harriet Worsley - ISBN; 1-84044–100–3 and ‘The Fashion Book by Phaidon’ – ISBN; 0–7148–4118-8
www.vam.ac.uk, www.vintageconnection.net, artarttattler.com/designcouture, www.guardian.co.uk/fashion, designmuseum.org.
Although Collette Dinnigan’s style varies slightly from season to season the same philosophy “to produce beautiful pieces that are affordable, wearable, versatile and child friendly” remains constant as does her “passionate feeling for what women want” 2. This is especially evident in her Autumn/Winter 2008 collection ‘Midnight in Moscow’ where Dinnigan implements a more ominous theme making it luxury self-indulgence. The collection is dark with an armoured feel combined with silver hues and dark shades in gladiator-style dresses, girly pleated gowns and military-style jackets. The darkness of these designs contrast heavily with her tr...
Berry, Hannah. “The Fashion Industry: Free to Be an Individual.” The Norton Field Guide to
Givenchy’s love for fashion grew when at the age of ten he attended the Pavillon d’ Elegance Paris Exposition. Once looking through Vogue magazine, he was inspired by Balenciaga men’s wear. He wanted to be a couturier and attended Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, to start a formal education in fashion. His designing inspirations came from Elsa Schiaparelli and Madam Gres’s work. His experience also came from working at the House of Piguet in Paris; this salon was known for its dramatic yet simple style and after, at the House of Lelong that was known for their high quality clothing. Those positions gave him knowledge on how to work with couture customers and gave him an opportunity to build strong relationships with them (Press, 2002).
Werle, Simone. Fashionista A Century of Style Icons. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1977. Print.
To begin with, I will look at each of the two subjects. Fashion is an extremely large subject with many sub-categories and can mean many different things, however in this essay I will take fashion to mean the popular clothing style. I will put emphasis on looking at high fashion as these are the leaders of their field. Fashion itself though, is not to be confused with clothing. Clothing is a part of fashion, but it is predominantly purely functional, for protection from different aspects of the environment. Fashion however, is primarily for image. It is a way to present individuality and personality. A physical mouldable form of expression. Designers wish to create works of art that can be worn, and this is wear clothing becomes an art form.
Jean Paul Gaultier finds a symbolic tension, which highlights the desire to emulate the clothing, and associated gender paraphernalia. He is often described as Frencher than French, the enfant terrible of French couture. This essay will expose reactions of ridicule and intolerance exceptional technique and ability to never confine to the norm, the ways he has shaped and challenged the conventional idea of fashion. The modes of male self-presentation will be shown with the consideration of each fashion collection. “Clothes don’t have a gender except those of function.” Discussion will investigate male self-presentation, Gaultier ability to tread the line between gender identity and cross-dressing, between provocation and originality. Fashion is full of outdated clichés, which no longer fit with the times.
Dior started up his business in Paris, France. Christian Dior used his experience in the war to make a fashion line. Christian Dior introduced the" New look". One of the most viewed things about it was the lower hemline. His first line was based on World War Two, so he named the line "new look.”
The Chronicle of Western Fashion: From Ancient times to the Present Day.
This essay aims to analyse the key role that the surrealist movement has played on fashion and the fashion industry. Both from a historical point of view, as well as its continued impact on fashion today, as a source of inspiration for contemporary fashion designers.
In the early 1800s, France was the sole fashion capital of the world; everyone who was anyone looked towards Paris for inspiration (DeJean, 35). French fashion authority was not disputed until the late twentieth century when Italy emerged as a major fashion hub (DeJean, 80). During the nineteenth century, mass produced clothing was beginning to be marketed and the appearance of department stores was on the rise (Stearns, 211). High fashion looks were being adapted and sold into “midlevel stores” so that the greater public could have what was once only available to the social elite (DeJean, 38). People were obsessed with expensive fashions; wealthy parents were advised not the let their children run around in expensive clothing. People would wait for children dressed in expensive clothing to walk by and then they would kidnap them and steal their clothes to sell for money (DeJean, 39). Accessories were another obsession of France‘s fashion; they felt no outfit was complete without something like jewelry or a shrug to finish off the look and make it all around polished (DeJean, 61). As designers put lines together, marketing began to become important to fashion in the nineteenth century; fashion plates came into use as a way to show off fashion l...
Lawson, David "History Of Renaissance Clothing - How Today's Fashion Is Affected." 6 Jul. 2011 EzineArticles.com. 16 Nov. 2011
Ryan, N. 2007. Prada and the art of patronage. Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture, 11(1), pp. 7-23.
Fashion has been around ever since ancient times, since the time of the Romans, it survived the world wars and is yet today a business with rapid changes. Fashion started off as an art form, a way for the riches to show their social status with unique and innovative designs that only they could afford. It was a way to separate the social classes of the society. In this paper I will include the creator of haute couture, and how the following designers developed couture, as well as having leading names in today’s ready-to-wear industry. The list is long, but I chose to focus on the three most important designers of the modern fashion industry.
Introduction Historically, multiple styles of dressing have been created during the last several decades, which played an important role in modern fashion in the UK. Everyone has a different and unique dressing style in their everyday life. Some styles are influenced by vintage styles which are attributing to the deep effects of old vogue, and another group of dressing styles are inclined into the fresh element. Despite those different styles, some of them have even evolved into the milestones in fashion history. To start this essay, it will introduce the evaluation of the first significant revolution of dressing style in the 1960s.
Fashion takes on many different facets and concerns many subsets— a model sashaying down the runway in a gown encrusted in real gems, Lady Gaga’s infamous dress made of cuts of raw beef, a teenage girl obsessing over the season’s latest styles— it is all an expression of our minds and who we are or want to be, made tangible. It is a medium just like any other, for while artists wield brushes and paints, designers use thread and cloth to illustrate their vision. The artistry is none more so apparent than in the exclusive world of haute couture, a world of extravagance that caters to aesthetics, producing one-of-a-kind wearable masterpieces that are made to be admired rather than worn. It is without doubt, high fashion and its design is an art.